Monday, January 23, 2012

1. Market it early in the year - For those thinking of selling, do not wait. As we get closer to the summer the competition will increase and foreclosure / short sale inventory will rise. You want to market the property when competition is low. The more competition, the less money we tend to get on the sale.

2. Market it aggressively - Aggressive marketing is the job of the real estate agent you hire. Too many agents list a property, put it in the MLS and wait for someone else to do the work. That marketing strategy doesn't work anymore. To get it sold in 2012, the property has to be pushed....the 'squeaky wheel gets the oil.' The property marketed aggressively gets the buyer.

3. Review activity often - Showing activity will tell a story. If there are no showings or a lot of showings, it means something. Too many sellers don't review the showing activity or the feedback that is generated when marketing a property. In most cases, it is the agent who is not providing the information to the owner therefore they cannot make the proper adjustments in a timely manner. The market is constantly changing and sometimes a minor change to the way a property is listed makes the difference in selling or not. Personally, I make sure the information is delivered often to my clients and I feel that has a major influence on our sales success.

4. Don't get offended - Unfortunately, there are some buyers that want to make low offers. Don't get offended by this. Review the offer and make a counter offer at full price if you want to. Remember, you are in charge of what you take and you can always reject an offer if it is not satisfactory to you. Offers equal activity and activity eventually leads to sold.

5. Make a financial decision - Too often, we let our emotions get in the way of making good financial decisions. Sometimes we sell too low or we don't sell when we should. The key to making a sound decision is to look at it from a financial perspective and do what makes the most sense financially. I know it hurts emotionally, I have taken my own beating on a few properties and it never feels good. The key is to make sure that my emotions don't contribute to further losses.

Now that everything’s back on track after a busy holiday season, we finally have a moment to step back and observe the market in 2011, despite reports of supposed “doom and gloom” and even though the economy was not doing very well, The Radcliffe Group had one of its best years ever and we have you, our valued clients and supporters, to thank for all that.

What Makes a Good Market “Great”?

The main thing that we can attribute our selling success from 2011 to is having motivated sellers and serious buyers. It’s as simple as that. So, what exactly makes a good market “great”? We find that the perfect combination of the right price, excellent condition and accessibility, makes any home a strong contender in the crazy competitive property-selling world today.

Toward fourth quarter of 2011, we witnessed a very strong surge of sales and many of them were sold at or above list price. We saw multiple offers taking place, demonstrating that buyers indeed are out there seeking the perfect home. That’s exactly what we expect to see more of in 2012. In fact, at this point we often receive requests from clients that are seeking a new home or would like to buy because they anticipate a rising trend in home prices to come by the end of the year. Though prices have not begun to rise, an upswing seems very likely so savvy buyers continue to be on the lookout already.

Our prediction for 2012 is that as buyers continue to reap the benefits of our current market and unbelievable interest rates right now, inventory will begin to level off and we will start to see more stabilization in the market. Not only that – the seemingly “bottomless pit” that has been our declining home prices, seems to have come to an end.

Fewer, But More Serious Buyers Dominate the Season

Though there may be fewer buyers now than we might see a couple months from now, the ones that are out there are downright serious about purchasing a home. This is great news for sellers right now since there is less selling competition to have to worry about and at the same time a potential for more serious offers.

~As we move into what seems to be the hopeful next phase of our real estate journey beginning the past several years, it is with great confidence that we forecast an amazing year ahead. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like a custom consultation to learn how we can assist you with your real estate endeavors today or even if you just have some questions you would like answered about any of this. We look forward to hearing from you!